10.8.12 Special Monday Night Event: Ferenc Nemeth + Bob Sheppard + Daniel Szabo

Ferenc Nemeth was born in Keszthely (Hungary), grow up in Zalacsany (small village of a 1000 people) and started to play the drums when he was three years old. His mother a school teacher, his father a businnesman and amateur drummer, who gave him his first drum lessons. At age fourteen he started to play in a top40 band and moved out of the family house to study classical percussion at the Richter János Conservatory in Gyõr. After compleating highschool, he moved to Budapest where he started to play different styles of music, while attended to the Franz Liszt Academy of Music’s Jazz Department. Soon Ferenc became one of the busiest jazz drummers in Hungary. After the Academy, he got a scholarship to Berklee College of Music and moved to Boston where he lived for three years. He also attended to the New England Conservatory and did one year as a graduate student. In 2001 he applied and got accepted (as the only drummer and first Hungarian) to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz program – along with fellow students and current bandmates Lionel Loueke and Massimo Biolcati – where he studied for two years. The Monk Institute is a selective program that allows students to study and perform with some of the finest Jazz musicians in the world, including three legends Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Terence Blanchard. While in Los Angeles, Ferenc started to work with the Billy Childs Trio, Bob Sheppard, Dave Carpenter, John Clayton, Jimmy Heath, The Henry Mancini Orchestra…just to name a few.

In 2003, after compleating his studies at the Thelonious Monk Institute, Ferenc moved to New York, where he almost immediately began playing gigs, working his way into the New York Jazz scene. Soon, Ferenc gained the recognition needed to be called to perform and tour with some of the biggest names in the jazz world. He has performed and/or recorded with a variety of artists such as: Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Christian McBride, John Patitucci, Terence Blanchard, Lionel Loueke, John Abercrombie, Dave Samuels, Mark Turner, Hal Crook, David Benoit, Bud Shunk, Darren Barret, Bruno Raberg, Greg Hopkins, Phil Wilson, Reggie Hamilton, Dave Grusin, Steve Turre, Eddie Deniels, Eddie Henderson, Ron McClure, Chris Cheek, Aaron Goldberg, Kenny Wheeler, Eli Degibri, Jonathan Kreisberg, John Ellis, Omert Avital, The Mason Brothers, etc.

It was then in 2003, when he began to work with GilFeMa -which is a collaborative trio featuring Lionel Loueke on guitar/voc, Massimo Biolcati on bass and Ferenc Nemeth on drums/percussion-. Ferenc was already working with ObliqSound and to his recommendation they recorded their first self titled CD for the lable in 2004, which features three of Ferenc’s song. Ferenc began to focus more on composing and soon released a duo album along with Javier Vercher for FreshSound, where the two of them wrote all the songs.

In 2005, Ferenc established his own lable “Dreamers Collective Records”, and recorded his debut album “Night Songs”, featuring John Patitucci, Chris Cheek, Mark Turner, Lionel Loueke , Aaron Parks and eight of his own original compositions. With “Night Songs” the Hungarian drummer finally can put in light his own gifts as a composer and arranger, besides as a performer, which have made him one of the sidemen most in demand in an environment as difficult as America. In particular it’s notable the ability, that the Hungarian musician shows, in his writing for the others. Nemeth avoids showing off his own performance skills, giving himself only one solo in the opening song “War” while in the rest of the recording he only accompanies the others with clean and precise timing. He is very discrete and never overpowers the other instruments.

Ferenc has been part of the Lionel Loueke Trio for the past 9 years. Recently was released “Karibu”, the stunning Blue Note label debut from guitarist and vocalist Lionel Loueke (takes its title from a Swahili word meaning “welcome”), featuring Loueke’s long-standing trio of bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Ferenc Nemeth, Karibu is also graced by rare guest appearances by two legends: pianist Herbie Hancock and saxophonist Wayne Shorter.
Ferenc Nemeth is an artist who continues to push the boundaries of jazz-drumming.

Ferenc Nemeth website

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Photography: Suzuki K

Over the course of an extraordinarily diverse career that has made him a first call musician in the realms of jazz, pop and the studio worlds, multi-woodwind specialist Bob Sheppard has always let his array of saxophones, flutes and clarinets do the talking. Superstar names highlight his resume, and jazz critics have been raving about him as both a sideman and leader for years, but such praise is simply a byproduct of Sheppard´s years of steady work and dedication to his craft – a tradition that continues on Close Your Eyes, his latest release as an artist and is the debut CD for the BFM Jazz label.

Going into the recording session for Close Your Eyes, Sheppard simply wanted to create a sonically rich interactive jazz experience. One of the distinct advantages of dividing his time between his home base of Los Angeles and New York is that he has forged working relationships with the best musicians on both coasts. Anchoring this session is top NYC drummer Antonio Sanchez (renowned for his work with Pat Metheny, among others), who Sheppard met while collaborating with him on the Billy Childs Jazz Chamber Sextet and Michael Brecker´s Quindectet tours. Completing a powerful rhythm section Sheppard chose the young bassist, Gabe Noel, and split the piano and organ duties between longtime friends John Beasley and Alan Pasqua. Other key contributors on this inspired CD are trumpeter Alex Sipiagen, percussionist Walter Rodriguez and guitarist Larry Koonse.

Sheppard has been a steadfast member of the Billy Childs Ensembles and the Peter Erskine trio for over a decade. Additionally over the years, he has toured with Steely Dan and Boz Scaggs, and brought his diverse talents to more recent performances with James Taylor, Natalie Cole and Queen Latifah and most notably with the legendary Joni Mitchell on her current four-disc set and her 2007 Grammy-winning, Shine. He also played on a live studio video with Mitchell and Herbie Hancock.

Bob Sheppard website

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

…born into a family of musicians, Daniel Szabo started playing the piano at the age of four. He received an all-compassing training in arts at the Ferenc Martyn School of Free Arts in the town of Pécs. Following his graduation from the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Pécs, he received his BA-degree from the Jazz faculty of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, in 2000.

…he began giving concerts early enough: he frequently performed all across Europe as a child in various bands as well as a soloist. Classical music, jazz and contemporary improvisation were all part of his repertoire.

…then came a long list of competition victories. He won the International Jazz Piano Competition held in Lithuania in 1997. He was joint winner at the Gábor Füsti Balogh Talent Contest for Jazz Pianists organized by the Hungarian Broadcasting Network in 1998, and this achievement led to his first trio album published by Warner Music Hungary. In 2000, he came first at the Jas Hennessy Solo Piano Competition that was part of the Montreux Jazz Festival. Afterwards he was invited to give solo concerts both at the Montreux Jazz Festival and the conference of the International Association of Jazz Educators in New York.

…in 2001 he was granted admittance and full scholarship to the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles, where he performed together with names like Randy Brecker, Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove, Vince Mendoza, Dave Carpenter and Peter Erskine. He got the Fulbright scholarship in 2003 and began his postgradual studies at the New England Conservatory (NEC) in Boston, where he got his master’s degree from in 2005. During these productive years in Boston he had two outstanding professors: Bob Brookmeyer in composition and arrangement, and Danilo Perez in jazz piano. Other renowned professors of his were Jerry Bergonzi, Steve Lacy, George Garzone, Michael Cain, Allan Chase and Ken Schaphorst. In concerts organized by NEC Daniel Szabo performed with Maria Schneider, Joe Lovano, George Russell, Harvey Mason, Herb Pomeroy, George Garzone and Tim Hagans, thus becoming an active member of Boston’s multicolored musical life.

…Daniel Szabo won the “4th International Martial Solal Jazz Piano Competition” in Paris in 2006.

The Daniel Szabo Trio plays originals and standard-arrangements written by its leader whose pieces have a peculiar taste and character influenced by the colorful and complex musical heritage of Middle-Eastern-Europe. The band has been regularly performing at international festivals, concert halls or clubs and often collaborates with renowned international jazz artists: they have joined forces with Kurt Rosenwinkel, Chris Potter, John Ellis, Rosario Giuliani and Flavio Boltro in the past 2 years. “Frictions” – the album featuring Kurt Rosenwinkel, whose band Szabo toured with in 2005, has been released under the label of Warner Jazz in 2007. The friendship and some splendid gigs with Chris Potter have resulted in a new album. “Contribution-Daniel Szabo Trio meets Chris Potter” is coming out in January 2010 by BMC Records!

Daniel Szabo website